Iso 14001: Design and Implementation of an Environmental Management System in a Public Administration
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UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION EUROPEAN SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED STUDIES IN Integrated Environmental Management: Ecology, Safety and Quality ISO 14001: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Vito Abbruzzese ACADEMIC YEAR 2002-2003 1 2 Table of contents ISO 14001: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................ 1 Table of contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2. Development of Environmental Management Systems to public bodies .......................................... 5 3. Initial environmental review .............................................................................................................. 6 4. The Manual of Environmental Management .................................................................................... 7 4.1 Introduction of the Manual of Environmental Management ............................................................. 7 5. Development of the requirements of the standard ISO 14001 .......................................................... 8 5.1. Environmental Policy (Standard section 4.2) ............................................................................ 8 5.2. Planning (Standard section 4.3) ................................................................................................. 8 5.2.1. Environmental aspects (Standard section 4.3.1) ................................................................ 8 5.2.2. Legal and other requirements (Standard section 4.3.2) ..................................................... 9 5.2.3. Objectives and targets (Standard section 4.3.3) ................................................................. 9 5.2.4. Environmental Management Programs (Standard section 4.3.4) ..................................... 9 5.3. Implementation and operation (Standard section 4.4) .............................................................10 5.3.1. Structure and responsibility (Standard section 4.4.1).......................................................10 5.3.2. Training, awareness and skills (Standard section 4.4.2) ...................................................10 5.3.3. Communication (Standard section 4.4.3) ..........................................................................10 5.3.4. Documentation of the environmental management system and Documentation Control Points (Standard sections 4.4.4 and 4.4.5) ................................................................................................11 5.3.5. Operational control (Standard section 4.4.6) ....................................................................11 5.3.6. Emergency preparedness and response (Standard section 4.4.7) .....................................11 5.4. Inspections and corrective actions (Standard section 4.5) ........................................................12 5.4.1. Monitoring and measurement (Standard section 4.5.1) ....................................................12 5.4.2. Nonconformity, corrective and preventive action (Standard section 4.5.2) .....................12 5.4.3. Recordings (Standard section 4.5.3) ..................................................................................13 5.4.4. Audit of the environmental management system (Standard section 4.5.4) ......................13 5.5. Management review (Standard section 4.6) ..............................................................................14 6. Procedure for certification ................................................................................................................14 3 4 1. Introduction Following the Master in Integrated Environmental Management, held at the European School for Advanced Studies of IUSS (University Institute of Advanced Studies), University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, I worked as a trainee at the consulting company Eco Auditing Ltd. Genoa, Italy. Eco Auditing is an Italian leading environmental consultancy to public and private institutions and it is specialised in environmental certifications, with expert consultants to assist in the design and implementation of environmental management systems applied to public bodies. Specifically, I was interested in the environmental certification of the municipality of Maratea, in the province of Potenza, in compliance with UNI EN ISO 14001. 2. Development of Environmental Management Systems to public bodies The ISO 14001 has also been used for some years by public bodies as a useful tool to improve the management of their activities, products and services. Of all the requirements of the standard ISO 14001, the general ones, such as the definition of Environmental Policy (Section 4.2), Control of documentation (Section 4.4.5), the Audit of the Environmental Management System (EMS) (Section 4.5.4) and Education, awareness and competence (Section 4.4.2) staff, do not present particular problems for their applications to the production system. There are instead more difficult with the management of supplier and operational control (Section 4.4.6), due mainly to a bureaucratisation of the definition of relations between individuals competing to operate the same business, product or service. In particular, the quantitative parameters to take under control, analytically useful to define the environmental performance of the system, are difficult to find and integrate. The implementation of EMS at the town of Maratea occurred through the following phases. 5 3. Initial environmental review The initial environmental review to determine the starting position of the organisation from the environment before developing the EMS. It is based on the verification of compliance with mandatory regulations and the identification of significant environmental aspects (critical), the examination of the various procedures and practices within the existing environmental analysis of accidents that have already occurred. At this stage, my work consisted of dealing with the figures in the community responsible for identifying, within the municipal structure of such activities, products and services within the direct or contracted for, contained environmental aspects to focus on the strengths and weaknesses and then address the shortcomings experienced organically. My actions have focused mainly on the figures identified by the organisation as responsible for the EMS, performing synergistically interviews and talks with them at the municipal offices (Administration, Accounting, Technical and Social Services) and the Secretariat. With the Technical Department, the part of territorial planning has been addressed and the documents relating to the General Development Plan, such as the preliminary geological studies to this document, the Building Program, and the cartography of the territory, have been found. A very important part of the activity of data collection was to find the various regulations of municipal services and the service contracts. Some of these contracts, including the management of potable and wastewaters and water purification service, the collection, transport and disposal service of municipal and differentiated waste, the care management and disposal of public green, and the school services such as meal delivery and transportation, were entrusted to third parties. Particular attention was given to the verification of compliance with regulation relating to the conformity to standards of municipal buildings, the remediation of polluted sites, compliance with noise (noise zoning) and waste, and the site identification plan for aerials. Of particular relevance at this time was the initial conversation with the deputy and the local direction for the first stage of comparison that should be the policy environment, to develop as a serious plan for future years on 6 'environment, a subject very dear to the local leadership of a country with a strong tourist vocation. It was quite obvious that the issue environment if properly managed and developed with an ISO 14001 certification, can be a real competitive advantage over direct competitors, other small tourist coasts of Campania and Calabria. Another very important aspect of the Initial Environmental Analysis phase was the training of the staff involved in the implementation of the EMS. This training saw the System Manager identified by the organization and his Assistant directly involved. Their roles, responsibilities and interactions between the municipal figures included in the EMS were addressed in the training course. From this meeting, various interesting aspects emerged on the difficulties of integrating the EMS into ordinary municipal activities. 4. The Manual of Environmental Management The Manual of Environment Management (MEM) is the hub of all documentation of the EMS, including inside the Environmental Policy, Planning, Implementation and Operation, Controls and corrective actions and management review, all requirements of the Scheme Environmental Management under the various points, which emerge the various environmental management procedures (EMP), which we will see later in detail. The preparation of the MEM consists of a front office phase of data collection followed by a back-office